Will anyone be watching the Watchmen?

One of the most eagerly anticipated films of 2009 hit the skids before we had time to exit 2008!

Watchmen has become caught up in a legal battle over distribution rights between Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Fox.

The issue has arisen because in the 1980s Paramount Pictures bought the rights to the Watchmen, plowed vast amounts of cash into developing it, before giving up and putting the film into turnaround. Warner Brothers have gone on to make the movie (with Warners to distribute the film in the US and Paramount to distribute everywhere else). Twentieth Century Fox are now arguing that they contractually had the right to first refusal of the film before Warners started working on it. A judge has now ruled that this issue should go to trial on 20th January 2009.

Negotiation has started between all of the studios involved but the knock on affect of this situation is that the film could be postponed until the court process has finished. Or worse, canned all together if an agreement cannot be reached.